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Can you afford a kid?
You make decent money, and somehow a kid still feels like it might break you. Most "cost of a baby" calculators answer the wrong question — they tally diapers and car seats. The number that actually decides it is bigger and quieter: does one parent keep working and pay for daycare, or step back for a few years?
This prices that one decision honestly. Leaving work isn't just a missing paycheck — it's the paycheck you never invest and the growth it never earns. Enter your numbers and see the real cost in today's dollars, set beside what the USDA says a child costs outright. Every assumption is on-screen and editable, and nothing you type leaves this page.
Price the daycare-vs-staying-home decision
Enter the take-home pay of the parent who might leave, how many years they'd be out, your local daycare cost, and what you already have invested. Everything computes in your browser — your numbers never leave your device.
After tax — what actually lands in your account each year.
How long they'd step back from paid work.
Full-time care for one child — the bill you'd pay to keep both parents working.
Investments and savings for the future. Exclude home equity.
Everything is computed in your browser. Your numbers are never sent to a server, and nothing is stored — close the tab and they're gone.
What leaving work for 3 years really costs
$131,939
That's what one parent stepping back for 3 years costs your savings by the time they'd return — in today's dollars, the lost pay plus the growth it never earned. About 42% of the ~$310,605 it takes to raise a child to 18, from the one decision most baby-cost calculators skip.
Turns these exact numbers into a real plan you can track — no re-typing.
Where the cost comes from
Your invested savings after 3 years
Keep working
$201,396
Second income, minus daycare, invested
Stay home
$69,458
Your pot grows on its own
Both paths start from the same invested total, so the pot itself cancels out — the gap between them is the cost above. Figures are in today's dollars; daycare is held flat and only counted for the years one parent is out. It nets out daycare but not other work costs (commuting, taxes), so treat it as an upper bound on the pay you'd give up.
And that's before the child's direct costs
The USDA puts the cost of raising one child to age 18 at about $310,605 — housing, food, care and the rest — separate from the work decision above.
Source: USDA, Expenditures on Children by Families (2017; $233,610 base), inflation-adjusted to $310,605 by the Brookings Institution (2022).
Estimates, not financial advice. Assumptions are shown and editable. All values in today's dollars.
See the whole picture — free, no card
This is one decision inside a much bigger plan. Sign up free and FIManager turns your income, savings and goals into a full financial plan — one that shows how a child, a career break, or a move fits into the years ahead, with taxes and a chance-of-success check the back-of-envelope math can't give you. Free, no card.
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The math, and the numbers behind it
How the comparison works, and where the reference figures come from — open whatever you need.
How this works
Two paths, run over the years one parent is out — in plain terms.
How this works
Two paths, run over the years one parent is out — in plain terms.
Two paths, same starting point. Both scenarios begin with what you have invested today. Over the years one parent would be out of work, we compare where each one leaves you.
Keep working + daycare. Each year, the leaving parent brings home their take-home pay (growing with your expected raise) minus one year of daycare. That net cash is invested and compounds at your real return.
One parent stays home. No paycheck and no daycare bill from that parent, so your existing pot simply grows on its own.
The gap between the two ending balances is the cost of stepping back — the lost pay plus the growth it never earned, all in today's dollars. Because both paths start from the same pot, the pot itself cancels out; the difference is purely the second income and its growth. It can come out negative: when daycare would cost more than the parent earns, staying home is the cheaper financial choice.
Deliberately simple: it counts the years one parent is out, not permanent lower pay after returning; it holds daycare flat; and it uses one steady real return instead of a range of market outcomes. That's the gap a full plan closes.
What a child costs, by the numbers
The USDA total, the expense mix, and daycare by state — with sources.
What a child costs, by the numbers
The USDA total, the expense mix, and daycare by state — with sources.
The USDA estimates a middle-income family spends about $310,605 raising one child from birth to age 18 (inflation-adjusted, and not counting college). Where it goes:
- Housing29%
- Food18%
- Childcare & education16%
- Transportation15%
- Healthcare9%
Source: USDA, Expenditures on Children by Families (2017; $233,610 base), inflation-adjusted to $310,605 by the Brookings Institution (2022).
The single biggest swing is childcare. Full-time infant care at a center averages about $1,230 a month ($14,760 a year) nationally, but ranges from roughly $6,900 a year in the cheapest states to over $24,243 in the priciest — which is why your local number matters more than any national average.
Source: CNBC 2025 (Child Care Aware / LendingTree); WalletHub; World Population Review 2026.
FAQ
- Daycare or one parent staying home — which is cheaper?
- It comes down to one comparison most baby-cost calculators skip. Keeping both parents working means paying for daycare but keeping a second paycheck you can invest. One parent staying home saves the daycare bill but gives up that paycheck — and the growth it would have earned. The calculator above runs both paths and shows the gap in today's dollars. When daycare would cost more than the parent takes home, staying home is the cheaper choice — and it says so.
- What does it actually cost to raise a child?
- The USDA estimates about $310,605 to raise one child to age 18 for a middle-income family (inflation-adjusted, and before college). About 16% of that is childcare and education, alongside housing (29%), food (18%), transportation (15%) and healthcare (9%). That is the direct cost — separate from the work decision this calculator prices, which is often just as large.
- What is the hidden cost of leaving work?
- Two things beyond the obvious missing paycheck. First, income you don't earn can't be invested, so you lose the compounded growth it would have made — a gap that widens the longer you're out. Second, pay usually grows over a career, so each year out costs a little more than the last. This tool counts both over the years you're out. It does not model permanent "career scarring" (lower pay after you return), because that needs assumptions it can't verify — so treat the result as a floor, not a ceiling.
- How much is daycare?
- Full-time infant care at a center averages about $1,230 a month — roughly $14,760 a year — nationally, but it swings hard by state, from around $6,900 a year to over $24,243. Enter your own local number; it's the input that moves this decision the most.
- Should I use gross salary or take-home pay?
- Take-home pay — what actually lands in your account after tax and payroll deductions. Only that money could have been spent or invested, so it is what you truly give up by leaving. Gross salary would overstate the cost, because a large slice of it never reaches you.
- Is my data sent anywhere?
- No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Your pay, savings and daycare cost are never sent to a server, never put in a shareable link, and there is no signup to use the calculator. Nothing is stored either — closing the tab clears it.
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